Classical Studies 202 Ancient Roman Society Lecture

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Classical Studies 202Ancient Roman
SocietyLecture 8

• -THE "FIVE GOOD EMPERORS"-
• -THE SEVERAN DYNASTY-
• -MEDICINE-
• -BREAK-
• -TECHNOLOGY-
• -OCCUPATIONS-
• -COMMUNICATIONS-

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THE "FIVE GOOD EMPERORS" (96-192AD)

• Nerva (96-98)
• 96 AD Praetorian Guard murder Domitian
• Senate nominates him, quickly, as emperor to
  avoid civil war
• elderly, childless, ideal senator
• Prestigious old, but no leader

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Nerva (96-98)

• suspected by army (not a military man)
• reduces taxes, recalls exiles, gives land to poor
• alimenta (scheme to help farmers needy
  children)
• 97 AD adopts Trajan (respected popular general)
  as son and successor
• dies of old age after 16 months(stroke after
  shouting at an officer?)

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Trajan (98-117 AD)

• Experienced general of the Rhine Danube
• from Spain (first provincial emperor)
• Put fiscal restraints onto overspending cities
  provinces

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Trajan (98-117 AD)

• expanded empire to its greatest extent
• invasion of Dacia (across the Danube)
• Trajan's Column (depicts Dacian war) Dacian
  gold, slaves
• -gives 75 denarii to each citizen of Rome from
  spoils (congiaria)
• annexes Arabia
• conquers Parthians (weak) 3 new provinces
• eastern war drains other frontiers
• massive revolts as a result of financial strains
  of war
• Dies on way home from Parthia

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Hadrian (117-138)

• Another Spaniard
• Curly hair and beard becomes fashionable
• -"adopted" by Trajan (forged will?)
• An excellent emperor
• Brings peace, prosperity order
• Ruled with a personal, hands on style

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Hadrian (117-138)

• abandons new provinces (except Dacia which was
  Romanized) to shorten the frontier
• visits provinces and frontiers Hadrian's Wall
  (practical, but defensive policy)
• 2nd Jewish War(132-135) destroys remain of the
  Old Temple of Solomon at Jerusalem
• -replaced by a Temple of Jupiter (blasphemy?)
• -begins Diaspora (Jews banned from Jerusalem)
• expands Athens
• rebuilds treasury
• excuse 900 million in back taxes
• to poor and to poor Senators

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Hadrian (117-138)

• 130 AD - boyfriend Antinuus commits suicide to
  ensure safety of Hadrian(divine honours and city
  of Antinuopolis founded)
• top civil service posts go to equites
• bad relations with Senate (4 senators executed
  jealous of equites)
• Empire run by Emperor and Advisors
• -Senate becomes more of a town Council
• adopts Antoninus Antoninus adopts M. Aurelius
  and L. Verus (secure line of succession)
• in old age developed a nosebleed for two years,
  and suffered a slow, lingering death from water
  accumulation in the body
• -asked slaves to kill him, wouldn't

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Antoninus Pius (138-161)

• insists on Hadrian's deification
• excellent administrator and model of behaviour
• maintains status quo
• legal reforms
• teachers to be paid by cities
• university at Athens
• Antonine Wall (north of Hadrian's) shorter but
  less secure

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Marcus Aurelius (161-180)

• reluctant emperor
• -a good man at a bad time
• insists that his "brother" Lucius Verus be
  co-emperor (161-169)
• -useless emperor
• -dies of apoplexy
• -Empire needs at least 2 men to run it
• Stoic philosopher-statesman, not soldier

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Marcus Aurelius (161-180)

• German tribes swarm across Danube and threaten
  Italy
• -"barbarians" begin to breach the Roman
  frontiers
• long wars
• Plague ravages Italy
• -beginning of the long decline fall of Rome
• suffered great chest and stomach pains
• -became a "junkie" on opium
• -died in sleep (or murdered?)

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Commodus (180-192)

• son of Aurelius
• lacked ability (worste ruler since Nero)
• addiction to pleasure (emperor as Hercules/god)
• has Senate deify him while still alive!

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Commodus (180-192)

• abandons (a) invasion across Danube(buys off
  barbarians!), (b) Antonine Wall
• appoints his favourites to high positions
• praetorian prefect rules so he can play
• appeared as a gladiator 735 times (opponents are
  animals or only allowed blunt wooden swords!)
• alimenta suspended
• reign of terror (many plots and purges)
• assassinated (poison plus straggled by wrestling
  partner/lover
• memory damned
• civil war results

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Short-lived Emperors that follow.

• Helvius Pertinax (193 AD)
• -assassinated after 87 days
• Didius Julianus (193 AD) (bust at left)
• -Praetorian Guard auctions off the throne
• -does not pay up and is murdered after a few
  months by the Praetorian Guard

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THE SEVERAN DYNASTY (193-235 AD)

• Septimius Severus (193-211)
• a North African married into a Syrian royal
  family
• -first Black/Berber Emperor
• -spoke Latin with a Punic accent!
• -shows cosmopolitan nature of the Roman Empire

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Septimius Severus (193-211)

• declared Caesar by the Danube legions
• -replaces Praetorian Guard with his own troops
• -extends power of Equestrians (run legions,
  provinces)
• -alimenta restored
• -free medical care
• -soldiers allowed to marry
• devaluation of coinage
• -recaptures Parthian provinces
• Gains some peace prosperity
• Dies in York, England

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Caracalla (211-217)

• son of Severus a bad ruler
• murders his brother Geta to gain power
• raises army pay
• increased taxes
• citizenship to all except slaves (no incentive to
  join army!)
• took part of Alexander the Great's tomb from
  Alexandria (last mention of the tomb)
• assassinated during war with Parthians

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Macrinus (217-218)

• Praetorian Prefect of Caracalla
• a Moor (North African)
• murdered

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Elagabalus (218-222)

• chosen by Syrian legions
• -claimed to be the bastard son of Caracalla
• -15 years old
• religious fanatic of the Eastern (sun) cult of
  Heliagabalus
• Brings big black rock of cult to Rome

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Elagabalus (218-222)

• imposes his religion on Rome replaces Roman
  gods with the sun cult
• Mom, Julia, grandmother, Julia, ruled for him
• travelled with a harem of "300 cute young boys
  and 300 cute young girls"
• bloody, cruel, decadent perverted
• -wore pearls lots of make-up in public
• murdered by Praetorians while hiding in a
• chest/privy

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Alexander Severus (222-235)

• cousin of Elagabalus
• aged 13
• a "sissy"
• dominated by grandmother and mother (Julia
  Mamaea), who provided good, stable rule
• Julia courts Senate(Alexander just a puppet)

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Alexander Severus (222-235)

• Praetorian Prefect becomes senator (Ulpian)
• Alexander tries to rule on his own, but is a poor
  warrior ruler
• -defeats Persians
• -but bribes Germans to withdraw (insult to army,
  who wanted the money!)
• army revolts, lead by Maximus the Thracian
• Its Maximus or me!
• Alexander and Julia murdered by army
• -Alexander cries to mom that its all her fault!

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M E D I C I N E

• real medicine developed in Greek world
• -little improvement until the 17th century
• Greek doctors came to Rome as slaves, so medicine
  servile
• fees paid by patient (no OHIP)
• medical schools (Alexandria etc.) optional
  apprenticeship usual
• Hippocratic corpus, oath (Hippocrates, 5th c. BC)
• Celsus (1st c. AD) Latin medical text reliance
  on drugs
• Galen (2nd c. AD) influence extends beyond Roman
  period

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M E D I C I N E

• no licensing, or malpractice, therefore some
  physicians deadly
• Until recently, Diaulus was a doctor
• Now he is an undertaker.
• He is still doing as an undertaker,
• What he used to do as a doctor.
• -Martial. Epigrams 1.47

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M E D I C I N ECauses Cures

• epidemics, e.g. kissing disease (Tiberius),
  plague (160's-70's)
• ignorance of hygiene
• -toilet in kitchen or on shared bench
• -live in close quarters
• -ghettos/crowded insulae
• -no washing of hands
• -mice fleas everywhere
• home remedies Cato on cabbage (cure-all) and
  magic spells (ie chanting for a dislocated
  shoulder)

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Cure for Jaundice

• Drink the ashes of a deers antlers and blood of
  an ass diluted with wine
• Or
• Drink the first manure excreted by a foal after
  birth (get the bean-sized ones!), diluted with
  wine
• Cure guaranteed in 3 days

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M E D I C I N ECauses Cures

• treatments diet, rest, blood-letting, enemas,
  ointments
• pharmacy ointments in cakes with stamped
  directions (many herbal remedies)
• -no antibiotics, no anaesthetic (mostly
  use strong, warm wine)
• temple of Aesculapius (island in Tiber)
• -dream-cures
• Rome builds hospitals
• -work on sanitation fresh water
• spas (mineral/hot springs) - many still in use
• alternative home remedies
• surgical tools lancets, scalpels, probes,
  forceps, clamps, saws etc. (mostly of steel/iron
  vs stainless steel)

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Battlefield Surgery

• A mosaic from Pompeii
• Army surgeons operate on the field
• Stretcher-bearers paid by the number of wounded
  they bring to the doctor

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Dentistry

• Less sugar in diet, so fewer cavities, but worn
  teeth
• Believe toothache caused by worm
• Extractions, wiring, filling, bridgework,
  dentures
• Toothpowder not to fight cavities, but for white
  teeth, clean mouth
• Brush teeth with a finger or chewed stick
• Dental patients tied down

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T E C H N O L O G Y

• "science" knowledge e.g. Cato's treatises,
  Pliny's Natural History
• scientific discoveries were made mostly by
  Greeks, not Romans
• -Romans a labour intensive people
• -not push to develop new technology
• hydraulic engineering water moved by siphon,
  pump, aqueduct (based on Greek designs)
• draining of Roman Forum
• Agrippa's and Claudius' aqueducts
• -provide 445 L water/person/day to Rome
• Cloaca Maxima (main sewer of Rome)
• -paid 25 denarii/day meals vs a teachers 50
  denarii/student/month

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T E C H N O L O G Y

• metallurgy coins, statues, tools etc. (stamped,
  cast or forged)
• mines use horizontal tunnels ore flushed and
  filtered
• smelting furnaces and pottery kilns
• machines
• -lever, pulley, siphon
• -discussion in Vitruvius (10 volumes on
  engineering architecture)
• -water-lifting screws, treadmills, cranes,
  paddlewheels
• catapults powered by sinew wound onto windlass

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T E C H N O L O G Y

• ships powered by sail (useless if wind wrong)
  and oars
• animal power, e.g. to move heavy loads
• milling
• -push mill
• -donkey mill
• -hand mill
• Romans did not have windmill, rubber, crank, big
  factories
• labour saving devices unsuccessful, e.g. Gallic
  reaper

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OCCUPATIONS

• (sources Cicero, Dio of Prusa, Plutarch, Horace,
  Martial, Lucian, St. Matthew tombstones)
• urban plebs idle rabble, or work-force?
• -most hired as day labourers (menial work)
• -Forum as labour pool pay 1 denarius per day
• -keep poor busy happy
• stigma against undignified jobs (manual work for
  wages factories tax collection retailing food
  services, perfume, entertaining, fish sellers,
  butchers, cooks, poultry raisers, fishermen,
  salesmen, peddlers porters)
• regular wages are suitable only for slaves

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OCCUPATIONS

• respectable workers are paid for the item
  produced or the service performed
• good jobs art, medicine, architecture, teaching,
  FARMING
• other factors in finding a job training, money,
  talent, inclination
• -architecture law are expensive fields to
  study
• taberna (shop) often a family operation
• -usually located at front of house
• -family trade

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OCCUPATIONS

• small factories
• -collegia (workers' associations, social clubs)
• -apprenticeships in some trades (ie weaving
  sculpting)
• -collegia sometimes involved in politics, e.g.
  firemen
• -roots of the Medieval GuilD system
• tombstones name professions or show them in
  relief
• 200 different jobs attested, largely at Rome
  (some jobs regional)
• -ie local wines, pottery styles, fishermen
  shepherds

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OCCUPATIONS

• women
• -work mostly in service trades (catering,
  nursing, prostitution, shepherd comfort girl!)
• -tabernae (barmaid, cook hostess)
• -"feminine" crafts (weaving, laundry, crafts)
• -often learned their trade at a young age
• -Epitaphs for Viccentia, a 9 year old gold
  worker, and Pieris, a 9 year old hair dresser

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COMMUNICATIONS

• Rome builds 53,000 miles of roads
• Appian Way (road from Rome to Capua)
• -first major military highway built in 312 BC
• -132 miles long
• -designed for speed
• Most roads built by Marius Mules
• road construction techniques
• 1 metre trench
• larger stones under smaller stones cement
• Topped with gravel, flint slabs
• milestones

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COMMUNICATIONS

• curatores viarum (local officials in charge of
  roads)
• -look after their own section of road
• cursus publicus (Imperial postal system)
• mansiones (inns run by the state)
• diploma (permit to use Imperial Post)
• private inns and their facilities
• cisium (two-wheeled cart)

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COMMUNICATIONS

• water transport
• -much cheaper and faster than road
• Alexandria (chief port of Egypt)
• -grain freighters
• -annona (grain supply)
• -amphoras (clay shipping containers)
• shipping hazards
• Storm
• Pirates
• Shipwreck
• Insurance fraud
• lighthouses

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COMMUNICATIONS

• Ostia (seaport of Rome, at mouth of Tiber)
• Rhine, Rhône (main rivers of Gaul)
• imports and exports
• terra sigillata (red-gloss pottery)
• 2.5 tax on goods crossing provincial borders
• -all get a cut of profits
• -protect local industries
• precious metals leave the empire to pay for
  oriental goods
• -much money goes out, but less comes in as Roman
  expansion stops
• -creates inflation stalled economy